To the Bayou and Back Again
by PrincessSomething
Summary: Unseen scenes from Naveen's perspective. From his first meeting on the balcony with Tiana, follow our prince and his beloved Evangeline.


**So this can be seen as either the longest oneshot EVER...or a collection of them. This is more from Naveen's POV and how he saw some things happen in the bayou. It can also be seen as a prequel to my other story, but I'll let you be the judge.**

**I Googled some french cajun phrases and I checked several sites so I'm pretty sure I'm using them right. Explanation for all of them will be at the bottom of the story.**

**Disclaimer: Trust me, I WISH I owned the "Happiest Place On Earth." That'd be SWEET!**

* * *

"Ha ha!" Naveen cried as he hopped out the door. "I am free you gullible fat man!" It had been easy enough to fool Lawrence into releasing him from his glass prison. He just had to flop over and make it look like he was struggling for air, eyes bulging. Lawrence loosened the lid and left the room to prepare for his grand entrance. After that, Naveen just popped off the lid, and escaped out the door.

The party was in full swing and as Naveen took care not to be stepped on, he wondered where he could watch this party from the best angle. His eyes wandered up. A ha! A balcony! But a dog stood between him and his destination. How would he get past it? By sheer luck, a girl at a table full of sweet-smelling beignets tossed one to the dog. Now was his chance!

Naveen slipped past the girl, past the dog, and past another girl dressed all in pink and up the stairs into the house. He took one wrong turn, but he found the right room. It was all pink, too. Maybe the woman by the stairs was Charlotte La Bouff.

"This room must belong to her," Naveen decided. The doors to the balcony were open. Despite being a frog, this was a lucky night for Naveen. He hopped up on to the railing and watched the dancers below. Lawrence was parading around, introducing himself as Prince Naveen-if he didn't bother to flirt with other women, he couldn't really pull it off-and insisting he would wait until Ms. La Bouff came back before he got any refreshments.

"I wonder where she went?" Naveen wondered aloud. As if on cue, Naveen heard someone enter the room behind him.

"Oh, Tia!" a voice cried. "It's such a shame what happened to your dress! You looked darlin' in it."

Naveen hopped to the doorway, making sure to stay out of sight. There were two young women inside. One was the woman dressed all in pink-Charlotte. She had her back to Naveen but he could see the other girl just fine. She sat still while her friend took down her hair and brushed it and gathered it all up in an elegant bun on top of her head. And she looked so sad but even then, she looked beautiful. Something told Naveen it had to do with something other than her ruined and stained dress. He happened to glance at the dresser and saw two crowns sitting there. Was this sad girl a princess?

"Now…where is it? Ah! Found it! This necklace here will go _beautifully_ with that ball gown." Charlotte fastened the necklace around her friends' neck. "Yer gonna look mighty pretty, _Princess_ Tiana." If Naveen had known Charlotte, he would've understood that Charlotte was off in her own fantasy world and was just imagining her friend to be a princess, just like Charlotte wanted to be. But the young amphibious prince thought this just confirmed his suspicions of Tiana being of royal birth.

"You don't have to do this, Lottie," Tiana sighed. "I'll just go." She started to rise out of her chair, but Charlotte forced her back down.

"I'm not done with you yet." Charlotte bustled over to the closet and pulled out a sparkling blue dress. Even Tiana's sad eyes lit up a little at the dress. "Now go on behind the screen now and put this on. Just throw me that dress of yours when you're done. I'll get it cleaned for you."

"Oh, no, Lottie. You don't have to-" This Tiana was certainly was a very kind princess. Much more so than all the other princesses he had met.

"I _insist_," Charlotte retorted. Naveen decided, even though she was behind a screen and he couldn't see a thing, the princess needed her privacy. He hopped back out to the ledge to look at the party. Naveen half-listened to the music and half-listened to the girls. Charlotte fussed about her hair, her dress, and talked endlessly of the disguised Lawrence.

_Great, _Naveen grumbled to himself. _Lawrence is going to marry her and get _my _riches._

A door slammed. Naveen ignored it. Then he saw _her._ The princess walked slowly out on to the balcony looking sad and defeated. She looked up at the sky and sighed.

"I can_not _believe I'm doing this," she muttered. She pressed a worn paper to her chest, closed her eyes, and whispered, "Please, please, _please."_

_Please, what?_ Naveen thought. He glanced up at the sky and saw a lone bright star. The princess was making a wish. She opened her eyes, blinked, and her eyes glanced over at the frog without seeming to notice him. She looked away, then realized what she saw, and gasped, her eyes going back to him. Naveen acted like he didn't care. A frog wouldn't care. The princess was not amused by the sight of him. She huffed and looked back at the star, her chin resting on her hand.

"Very funny," she muttered. Tiana turned back to Naveen, her mouth turned up in a sarcastic smile. "So what now?" she asked of the frog. "I reckon you want a kiss?"

Naveen could not help himself. How could he _not _answer a question like that? The lady had asked for a kiss, after all.

"Kissing would be nice, yes?" he asked. The princess screamed.

* * *

A waitress. The princess was a waitress! He had kissed a waitress, not a princess! It was her fault for not saying she was only _pretending _to be a princess. It was her fault that they were thrown out the window and chased by a dog at the party. And now he would be stuck marrying that Charlotte as soon as the two were human again and then he would have to hand over some of the fortune to the waitress so she could get her own restaurant. Did she really like being a waitress that much?

The taunts and threats and snaps of the gators quieted down as they all went to sleep or swam off. Only then did Naveen notice the waitress on the other side of the hollowed out tree. She was curled up, facing away from him. She was shaking-it was chilly inside the trunk-but she was also sniffling loudly occasionally. Oh, no. She couldn't still be _crying_ could she?

Naveen was…uncomfortable with crying. He never had any idea what to say to make anybody feel better. Only with his little brother was he ever able to say the right thing. But he was six-and-a-half so that didn't count plus he cried over trivial things, like stubbing his toe. This waitress was not crying over anything like that. The _Froggi Proto _was not about to ask her what was wrong, but he could do something for her. He just hoped she wouldn't kick him _there _again in the process.

He picked up a large leaf and slowly walked over to her, being careful not to make a single sound. Once he was at her side and gently lowered the leaf over her to make a blanket. The waitress sat up quickly, turning to Naveen.

"I thought I told you-" she started angrily. Naveen hopped to the other side of the tree, holding his hands out in defense.

"Waitress! Waitress! Please! I wasn't doing anything!" he insisted. The waitress looked down and recognized the leaf for what it was supposed to be: a blanket. Naveen got another leaf and put it over himself, he stretched his limbs. "Goodnight, waitress," he yawned.

"Tiana!" she snapped. She was sitting up again. "Tee-ah-nuh!" she emphasized. "If we're gonna be stuck together for a while, you might as well learn how to say my name, _Nuh-veen._"

Naveen rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Goodnight, Tiana." He curled up on his side again. "Waitress," he muttered.

"This tree echoes. I can still hear you." Naveen resisted the urge to smack himself on the head.

* * *

The sun was starting to set on the bayou. Their new reptile friend Louis kept swimming. Naveen sat on his head while Tiana was stretched out on the gator's back. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted toward the last rays of the sun. She was not sleeping, though. She was smiling slightly and her foot was tapping.

"_I've climbed the mountain and I've crossed the river and I'm almost there. I'm almost there," _she sung softly. Naveen would never admit it to _her _but she did have a very nice singing voice. It was enjoyable to listen to. But he was a foolish man and so he decided to interrupt her instead of enjoying her singing.

"Almost where?" he asked. Tiana looked around at him.

"What?" she asked.

"You were singing about being 'almost there.' Where's 'there'?"

Tiana sighed and sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. "Nowhere _you'd _care about." Naveen huffed in annoyance. She always had to be so difficult.

"Ah, come on now, Miss Tiana!" Louis chimed in. "There's no room for frowns so long as you're with _this _gator. So tell me: what're you gonna do when you turn human again?"

* * *

Naveen was far beyond elated when-with Ray's help-he had escaped the frog hunters. But that was before they saw they had captured Tiana. All logical sense, reasoning, and his animosity toward the young woman went out the window and he had one thought: save her. He did, the distraction worked, but when the gun was pointed at _him_, she returned the favor instead of saving herself. Then they didn't need to think about what they needed to do to foil the frog hunters. They worked like one mind, hopping to and fro.

When the hunters paddled for their lives out of that bayou, he watched them go, still high off of the adrenaline rush he had gotten from the rescue and escape. Then, Tiana started laughing. Not the small giggles she hadn't been able to repress any time something unfortunate happened to Naveen, but loud uproarious laughter that made her sides ache and left her gasping for air. Naveen laughed with her, hand on her back. Now that they weren't out of danger, they could laugh again. The danger was now just a memory, a story to be remembered, told, and passed down.

"Come on," Tiana said between laughs. "Let's go find Louis and Ray." She was sobering up some, but Naveen was still laughing at the faces of those frog hunters when they realized that not only were they _smart _frogs, they were _talking _frogs.

* * *

Tiana was growing on him. Finally he had a skill that he could be proud of: he could mince. She told him that if there was anything else he wanted to learn how to do that involved cooking, just let her know. The gumbo she made was better than anything he had ever tasted, better than the recreations the palace chefs had attempted.

Ray sung about his Evangeline and Naveen couldn't stop staring at Tiana as she smiled at that Cajun firefly. She lit up at Ray's dream of being with his Evangeline the same way she lit up talking about her restaurant or when she was making the gumbo. He stood up, pulling her up with her and brought her close to him. She backed away immediately.

"Oh, no, I don't dance," she insisted. Naveen ignored her, drawing her near him again. She hopped away onto another lily pad. "I never danced," she told him sadly. She turned away from him. Naveen ignored her again and pulled her back to him.

"If I can mince," he told her, "you can dance."

* * *

Naveen no longer wanted his riches back and he _definitely _didn't want to marry Charlotte La Bouff. Tiana was the only one he could see himself with. This thought delighted him as he kept working on the ring he planned to give his princess-if she agreed to it.

Tiana had told her much of her best friend, "Lottie" she had called her. She seemed like a kind and generous person. Surely she would agree to kiss him without a marriage. She would want to see her best friend happy, too.

As for the money…well, Charlotte may or may not be _that _generous but Naveen didn't care. He would get any job possible to help Tiana get her restaurant because he wanted to make _all _her dreams come true. Why? Because…

Naveen paused and smiled, leaning his head against the ship as another thought occurred to him.

"I love her!" he realized.

* * *

"Miss La Bouff! Please! Down here! I am the _real _Prince Naveen." _SMACK! _Another book squashed him. Maybe he should stop introducing himself in places with books. "Of Maldonia!" he groaned.

Charlotte lit up. "Did you say 'Prince'?" She batted her eyelashes. Naveen struggled to his feet.

"You have been spending too much time with Tiana," he noted. That was the wrong thing to say. Charlotte grabbed him immediately and started shaking him.

"Tiana! You've seen Tiana! Where is she?! Her Mama and me have been worried _sick _about her."

"I will explain _everything_," Naveen promised. She had stopped shaking him but Naveen felt as if his insides were still being tossed around. "But first, that man was my valet Lawrence. He was impersonating me so he could get your father's money!"

"_What?!"_ Charlotte screeched. She just about squeezed the life out of Naveen. She ran out of the church with him. Lawrence was still pacing back and forth in front of the church. Big Daddy was walking over-conveniently with one of his policeman friends. "DADDY!" Charlotte screamed. She pointed a finger at Lawrence. "Arrest him!" No more needed to be said. Lawrence was pulled aside and they started questioning him.

"Miss La Bouff!" Naveen wheezed. Charlotte looked down and realized she was suffocating him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, sugar." She sat down on the steps, putting Naveen down right in front of her. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Now," Charlotte said, smoothing her skirts, "please tell me everything. And what about Tiana? Where is she?"

Naveen glanced up at the clock. Twelve more minutes. He could make it if he explained fast.

"Well I was not in the city very long before Lawrence and I were invited to some voodoo parlour with Dr. Facilier-"

"The _Shadow Man?_" Charlotte interrupted, incredulous. "Honey, that just wasn't smart."

"No, it was not because he turned me into a frog and with my blood and a talisman, Lawrence could pretend to be me. I was trapped in a jar but I escaped at your party and I made it to your balcony and that's when I met Tiana-"

"Oh! Did she smash you with a book, too? Tia would do that. But a talkin' frog is just a little shocking so you'll have to forgive us."

"I already do. Anyway, I thought Tiana was a princess so I told her if she would kiss me, I would grant any wish she had. You see, she needs the money for her restaurant or else she will lose it forever. Tiana kissed me, but since she was not a princess, she was turned into a frog, too-"

"Oh, no! She was? You two were the frogs at my party! Where is she? Where?"

"I…" Naveen trailed off. He wished he knew. "She is probably with the friends we made in the bayou: Louis the alligator and Ray the firefly. Anyway, an old magic woman in the bayou told us that the only way to turn back human was for me to kiss a princess. Since your father was made the 'King of Mardi Gras' that makes you a princess but only until midnight."

"I'm a princess?!" Charlotte cried excitedly. "Well I guess that makes sense but I just can't believe that it counts for_ this! _I feel just like a fairy tale."

"Yes it does count, Miss Charlotte, so I need you to kiss me. If you do this, I will marry you but you must also give Tiana all the money she needs for her restaurant. And now, Miss Charlotte," Naveen got down on one knee and held out his arms, "I am ready to kiss if you are."

Charlotte twisted her hands as she gazed wide-eyed at the frog. His smile became hard and uneasy, even when Lawrence was arrested and taken to the parish prison. They had less than two minutes to go before Charlotte was no longer a princess.

"Goodness gracious!" she cried. "This is so much to absorb. Let me see if I got this right: if I kiss you before midnight, you and Tiana will turn human again. And then we're gonna get ourselves married and live happily ever after! The end."

Naveen shrugged. "Eh…more or less. But remember: you must give Tiana all the money she requires for her restaurant. Because Tiana…" he looked up at the bright Evening Star, "she is my Evangeline." The term of endearment seemed to be lost on Charlotte.

"Anything you want, sugar," Charlotte agreed, getting out her makeup. She applied a fresh coat of lipstick and turned back to Naveen. "Pucker up, buttercup!" Naveen sighed and unenthusiastically puckered his lips. Charlotte got closer and closer and he reminded himself why he was doing this and who he was doing it for.

"Wait!" a voice cried out. Naveen looked around immediately, recognizing the voice.

"Tiana?" he said, surprised.

"Tiana?" Charlotte gasped. Clearly she did not expect to see her friend in her frog body at all. Naveen was just confused. Why did Tiana want him to stop when she was so close to getting everything she ever wanted?

"Don't do this," she begged, hopping to him. He hopped over to her, impatient.

"I _have _to do this," he insisted, "and we are running out of time."

"I won't _let _you!"

"It's the only way to get to your dream!" He turned away from her, grudgingly walking back to Charlotte. That was why he was doing this: for Tiana's dream. Nothing else mattered to him but to see her happy. Not even his own happiness.

"My dream?" she echoed. "My dream wouldn't be complete…without you in it."

Naveen's chest swelled with more happiness than he had ever felt before. He turned back to Tiana, a smile on her face. Could she possibly be saying what he thought she was saying?

Tiana shrugged. "I love you, Naveen."

He stood up and stepped to her, pulling her up, too. "Warts and all."

* * *

When Tiana had been crying in the tree, Naveen didn't know what to do. But now that Ray died, he didn't have to think about it. They were both equally saddened over the firefly's death. Charlotte promised to make something up to Tiana's Mama. She gave them an empty canister of powder to carry Ray back to the bayou in.

Louis swam silently down the river. Tiana leaned over Ray's make-shift coffin, sobbing softly. Naveen draped one arm across her and laid one arm across Ray's coffin. Now that they shared the same grief, Naveen knew exactly what he should or should not do around a crying girl. He held her for comfort and said nothing about her tears. As long as she wanted him there, he would stay. None of them spoke, they just grieved.

They found Ray's family around sunrise and they all grieved over the loss of Ray. He was laid down on a bed of leaves and all the fireflies of the bayou came around to offer their condolences.

Tiana did not want to leave Naveen's side. Most of the day, she was curled into it while he kept his arms around her. Only once did she step away from him and that was to make some swamp gumbo for everyone.

"It's hard to explain," said Tiana as Naveen minced mushrooms, "but sometimes food just helps when something bad or tragic just happened." He understood what she meant when he had another taste of her gumbo.

* * *

The sadness and depression and grief were gone. Everyone was happy that Ray was with his Evangeline and now everybody was swapping stories about Ray, his antics, his childhood, and how he first fell in love with his Evangeline.

"Oh, Defan Ray," said one of his cousins. "He was no capon, dat was fuh shore" He laughed and let out a long sigh. A female firefly next to him nodded, smiling.

"Weh, dat Ray was a Beb," she said. Naveen turned to Tiana, hoping she could tell him what they were saying. They were sitting in the opening of another hollow tree. Louis was lying at the base of it, eyelids drooping.

"T-" Naveen stopped. Tiana had fallen asleep. Her head was slumped over onto his shoulder. He did not want to wake her. She deserved the rest. Naveen looked back to the rest of the fireflies. They were all looking at Tiana, at each other, and deciding that maybe it was time to hit the hay.

"Um…" Naveen mumbled, trying to decide what to do. He swung his legs to the inside of the tree, keeping one arm around Tiana. He leaned back out and hooked an arm under her knees. He'd let her sleep in the tree. Louis would not mind sharing his spot. He gently placed her in the spot with the most moss and leaves. He covered her with the largest leaf he could find and rolled up some moss, placing it under her head to serve as a pillow. He took another leaf for himself to serve as a blanket. Before he left the tree he leaned down and kissed Tiana on the cheek-or whatever you would consider the side of her head since she was now a frog.

Well, Naveen did _intend _to leave the tree. He only took two steps toward the hole in the tree when Tiana stirred and awoke.

"Naveen?" she asked sleepily. He looked at her. She was sitting up now, smiling a little at him. "Where ya goin'?" she asked.

"I was going to bunk with Louis," he explained. Tiana bit her lip and rocked from side to side. She seemed uncertain about something. Looking down at her feet, she spoke.

"Will you stay here with me until I go to sleep?" she asked nervously. Naveen rolled his eyes and went back over to her.

"You _were _asleep," he reminded her, lying down beside her. She laughed and pushed the leaf covering her partly to Naveen.

"Not _completely_," she insisted. Naveen didn't believe her and he stayed. Tiana felt very content with herself when she saw that her plan worked: Naveen fell asleep, his arms wrapped around her.

* * *

Naveen awoke early the next morning long before dawn. What woke him, he didn't know. One moment he was asleep, the next his eyes were wide open. Outside, Louis' snores drifted up to the frogs in the tree and there were a few tiny snuffling snores here and there from all the fireflies. Tiana was still asleep in Naveen's arms (and he didn't feel smug at all when he noticed there was the trace of a smile on her face.)

He was about to close his eyes and go back to sleep when he noticed something outside: a faint light coming closer and closer and the silhouette of what appeared to be a human with a gun. Naveen froze for an instant, holding his breath. His mind went into a panic and he did not know what he should do, for he wanted to help Louis _and _protect Tiana. There was no need for his panic, however. A tiny pebble sailed into the tree and hit Naveen right on the head. He bit his lip to stop from crying out. That pebble hurt.

"Git on down here, Prince Froggy!" a voice hissed. Naveen recognized that voice instantly. He disentangled himself from Tiana, mildly distracted by the strings of mucus that still attached them. _That will take some getting used to, _he thought to himself. He hopped to the opening of the tree and looked down to see Mama Odie standing right by Louis. She clamped a hand around the gators' jaw, bringing his snores to a halt.

"Hush up!" she scolded. "Less you wanna wake da whole bayou." She released her grip and the old gator never snored again.

"Mama Odie!" Naveen whispered. He hopped on to her shoulder. The blind woman patted his head a couple of times.

"Let's you and me go for a lil' early morning walk, Prince Froggy," she said. They walked further into the bayou, farther away from the fireflies. Naveen started to worry about Tiana and what she would think if she woke and he wasn't there. Would she worry about him? Or would she think he went to find another place to sleep last night?

It was a while before Mama Odie spoke. After a long time, when Naveen looked at the inky sky and began to wonder just how early it was, she sat down on a log and placed Naveen down next to her.

"Now, Froggy," she said, "have you and Miss Froggy found out what'chu_ need?_" Naveen sighed and nodded.

"Yes," he replied. "Each other." _Mama Odie will be happy with that,_ Naveen thought. Only a second later, Mama Odie hit him in the head with a stick. "OW!" he cried out.

"Then why ain't that ring on her finger?" she demanded.

Naveen rubbed his head. All the women were hitting him ever since he came to New Orleans. "Well, I _had _a ring but…when I got captured by the shadows on the riverboat, I dropped it."

"No ya didn't! Ya left it at my place, remember?" Naveen did not understand why Mama Odie was scolding him for something he clearly didn't do. Maybe being two hundred made your mind go a little fuzzy.

"Mama Odie, I swear, I lost the ring on a riverboat." He hated repeating this one line. _No _man-even if he has been turned into a frog-wants to admit that he lost the engagement ring he intended to give to the love of his life.

"Then what do you call _this_?" she demanded, holding out-could it be? Naveen grabbed the walnut from her and cautiously tested to see if it opened. It did. And inside was…

"The ring!" Naveen cried joyously. "This-this is _incredible! Ashidanza! _How did you find it?"

"Well, Ray and me was talkin' last night after he had a moment with his Evangeline and told me all about it."

Naveen clutched the walnut with all his might, refusing to let it go. "Thank you, Mama Odie!"

"No trouble. We best hop along now so you can get some shut-eye. Once she says yes, y'all come on and see me."

"But," Naveen said as Mama Odie started walking him back, "what if she says…no?"

Now he was panicking and doubting himself-something that only happened with Tiana. Maybe Tiana didn't want _that _much commitment. Maybe she still wanted to keep her eyes open in case there was another frog in the bayou for her.

"Now you hush up and don't think like that. She's yer blue skies and sunshine." He didn't argue with Mama Odie again the whole way back but he was starting to doze off and couldn't think coherently anymore, unless you counted "Tiana" and "I hope Tiana's fine" as coherent thoughts. His worries went away when he hopped back into the tree again and saw she was still there, still sleeping.

Poor Tiana: she was shaking a little and fidgeting. _"Naveen?_" she mumbled. Even in her sleep, she had somehow managed to sense he wasn't there. He went back down beside her, wrapping an arm around her and bringing her close. She sighed, contented and nuzzled herself further into his side.

"I love you," he whispered, barely audible. Sleep claimed him.

* * *

Tiana woke first the next morning to the first few rays of early morning light. The first thing she noticed was-hooray!-Naveen was still there. The second thing she noticed was that only one arm was wrapped around her when there were two when she dozed off. She looked over Naveen and saw that the other arm was wrapped around a walnut. Why? Who knew? Maybe he had happened to find it and was saving it for breakfast?

Tiana sighed and closed her eyes, dropping her head back to Naveen's chest. He was an odd one, but she might as well get used to it. Of course, just when she was contented with getting some more shut eye, Naveen woke up, yawned and stretched.

"Morning," he mumbled. She looked at him. His eyes were still shut tight.

"Morning," she smiled. "I don't mean to pry, but is there any reason you have a walnut as a teddy bear?"

Naveen's eyes wrenched open and he sat up, pulling Tiana with him. His arm around her disappeared and joined the other around the walnut. A large grin spread across his face and his eyes lit up.

"It really _did _happen! I thought it was just a dream!" He laughed joyously and quite frankly resembled a child let loose on a pile of candy. Tiana decided it was official now: Naveen was crazy.

"Tiana!" he cried excitedly, turning to her. He took her hands and pulled her up to a standing position. He dropped down on one knee and he asked the question she had been hoping to hear: "Will you marry me?"

Tiana's heart soared at those words. Sure, he had tried to propose before and Ray had _told _her that was what he was trying to do on the riverboat, but hearing the words from Naveen was completely different.

She nodded and she thought she felt tears well up in her eyes a little. Naveen let out a cry of joy and grabbed Tiana and spun her around, elated. He slipped the ring on her finger, holding his breath for a fit. The ring fit perfectly. Naveen smiled at his handiwork and beamed at his fiancée. Tentatively, he leaned in for a kiss. Tiana, impatient at this point, grabbed him and brought his face to hers. Their first official kiss not only as frogs, but as a couple.

* * *

Louis was happy to hear the news and he was happy to go with them to Mama Odie's. The happy couple sat on his scaly back, Naveen holding Tiana close. The fireflies followed. They had all overheard the news and they were all celebrating. Life moved on.

Naveen was _very _surprised when they got to Mama Odie's because almost the moment he walked through the door, he was tossed back out again.

"Women only in here to help Miss Froggy!" she barked. "Some o' the birds in here know where y'all's weddin' gonna be. They'll take y'all dere."

"We are getting married today?" Naveen asked, surprised. Mama Odie poked her head out the door, stopping traffic going in and out.

"Is dere a _problem_ with dat?"

Naveen shook his head. "No problem at all; the sooner the better." He stretched up on his legs, trying to see past Mama Odie. She nudged him away with her foot. A few of her spoonbills came out the door and gestured for him and Louis to follow.

"See ya, Naveen!" Tiana's voice called from inside the boat.

"I-" the door slammed in Naveen's face before he could finish.

The whole way to this place, the fireflies were stopping at any animal: opossums, raccoons, turtles, et cetera, to invite them to a wedding. They also insisted on helping Naveen get ready by cleaning off any speck of dirt on his body and making sure his teeth shone. When they passed a swarm of butterflies, Naveen kept his eyes peeled for the right one. Finally he spotted a small white one.

"Hey, you! Little butterfly!" he called. "Yes, you. I need to ask a favor. Do you think you could serves as a bow for my wedding? I am getting married today."

The butterfly cheerfully agreed and rested himself on a spot just below Naveen's head. He turned to the fireflies to show them the new addition. "What do you think?" he asked.

"Dat looks mighty fine, Cap," the fireflies declared.

The wedding would take place in a part of the bayou where the trees curved together to resemble the inside of some grand church. Naveen hopped onto a grassy area as the animals started filing in. He thought he'd have Louis there until Tiana came, but some of the women fireflies came around and told Louis he was needed lickety split back at the boat. So Naveen paced back and forth. He _did _hum Ray's song for Evangeline, but the butterfly started laughing.

"That tickles!" he exclaimed and so Naveen stopped and just went back to pacing while all the animals and fireflies gave him advice, asked questions, and expressed what they were feeling at that moment.

"How many little ones y'all gonna have?"

"Look here, you Wowaron, you best be treatin' shâ real nice, now."

"I'm so happy for y'all, I tink I got the faiblesse."

Before Naveen could ask what a "Wowaron" was and what the "faiblesse" was, Mama Odie emerged from the trees and stood next to Naveen.

"Y'all hush up now!" Mama Odie called out. Then she pointed to a group of fireflies that struck up a zydeco version of _Here Comes the Bride_ "Stand up straight," Mama Odie hissed to Naveen, which he did immediately. Louis swam into view. One spot on his back was surrounded by fireflies holding leaves and flowers. Louis swam up to where Naveen was and placed his large head on the ground next to him. The fireflies parted and revealed Tiana.

Naveen was speechless. His insides melted at the sight of her. A single flower was her bouquet and half a dozen smaller flowers framed the top of her head, keeping her veil in place. Even his head was a mess of thoughts except for one: _Ashidanza!_

Tiana walked gracefully off the gator, receiving "oohs!" and "ahhs!" from everyone present. "Thank you, Louis," she said as she stepped off his snout.

"My pleasure, Miss Tiana!" he winked at Naveen and then slid backward from the two frogs.

Naveen took Tiana's hand, hardly able to form words for how lovely she looked. They were both more than happy to spend the rest of their lives as frogs. So happy, they didn't notice when they turned human again just a short time later.

* * *

**Defan= sainted, demised, passed away.  
Capon= coward (I assume they told the family about his death and they were pleased to know how brave Ray was)  
dat= that  
fuh shore= for sure  
weh= yes  
Beb= sweetheart, babe  
Wowaron= bullfrog  
shâ= cher. In retrospect, I could have just written cher, but oh well.  
tink= think  
I got the faiblesse= I'm going to faint.  
**

**The verdict: I know MUCH more about New Orleans than I do about cajun phrases so excuse me if I got anything wrong.**


End file.
